Your Customer Service Culture Requires Leaders, Not Managers

Virtually everyone who has a job has a boss or manager, but does everyone have a leader?

You never hear people complain about leaders, but they routinely complain about their bosses or managers.

A key source of the disparity is the fact that leadership is about action, not position. Just because someone is in a role of control does not mean the person is a leader. I often say that the best leaders are typically poor managers, while the best managers are typically poor leaders. Unfortunately, all managers have to do some leading and all leaders have to do some managing. It is therefore imperative to find the right balance between the two, and the challenge is to assess and position individuals correctly within an organization based on its needs.

So what is a manager? A manager is a person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization. A manager is responsible for setting goals. A good manager then gets employees to set their goals and make sure that they hit those goals. If employees fail to do so, the manager recognizes that his own job is on the line. Necessary for creating stakes, this relationship dynamic can also cause some friction and stress in the relationship between a manager and employee.

A manager’s responsibility is to legislate and regulate. A manager relies on control--ideally of every situation at all times. Key tasks and skills include: budgeting, hiring/firing, reprimanding, making lists, problem solving, following strict procedures, following strict rules, establishing agendas, allocating resources, planning, facilitating, establishing rules and procedures, and controlling potential risks.

Poor managers tend not to want to "shake the ship." They conform to the rules and standards established by the company. They are not thinkers but doers. Managers feel most comfortable managing in environments where there isn’t much change and they thus can stick to the status quo. Managers tend to be reactive and avoid conflict, but they nonetheless do not work well with others.

When subject to this form of "management," employees are unable to make empowered, ambitious decisions. They are being managed rather than led.

Leadership has been defined as a process through which a person influences and motivates others to get involved in accomplishment of a particular task. A leader is completely different from a manager. A leader motivates, coaches, inspires, copes with change, has relationships with others, develops people, fixes break downs, gives credit, genuinely wants people to succeed, creates and seeks opportunities, challenges the status quo, innovates, originates and does the right thing not just does things right. Leaders are rare. Unfortunately, the majority of people will never work for a leader. Leaders are not managers and mangers are not leaders.

I believe that leadership is the essential tool for commitment from employees. Without a leader, employees lose hope and their commitment to the company is drastically reduced. It’s not that they couldn’t conceivably want to do better; it’s that they have no one to inspire them or encourage them to do so.

Far too many companies today hug the philosophy of management. They have forgotten what leadership is, but without leadership, hope of truly optimizing the business is lost. You can’t win a war on management alone. You need a leader to inspire an organization to go beyond what they thought possible and to believe it is possible.

That is not to say management skills are irrelevant. If the leader cannot effectively manage and assure the smooth execution of tasks and achievement of performance goals, his cultural impact will be limited to that of a cheerleader and/or motivational speaker. The best authority figures combine their abilities to inspire and empower others with their abilities to prioritize tasks and endeavors.

Still, given the status quo’s emphasis on management rather than leadership ability, a shift is needed. And if you want to create a service culture, you must help managers transform into leaders.

Most firms are dependent on people--not machines--to deliver the product or service. They are fragile human beings who want more than a pay check. They thrive on recognition. Leaders give that to them, and employees therefore work harder and more effectively for leaders than managers. Employees become more indispensable and extraordinary.

John Tschohl is an international service strategist and speaker. He is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today,Time and Entrepreneur magazines as a customer service guru, he has written several books on customer service including the new 10^th edition of Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service.